Supporting the strategic pillars of translational research in biofilms

It is now widely accepted that most microorganisms live within communities and not as single cells. The interaction between species within the community drives the behaviour of the population and its adaptation to various ecosystems and hosts. This relatively recent concept has triggered the emergence of a whole research field in Microbiology aiming at understanding the structure and organisation of bacterial biofilms combined with the detail of microbiome composition and evolution. Researchers also joined forces in what is a multidisciplinary field of investigation calling for knowledge from basic microbiology to surface chemistry and all the way to advanced omics and microscopy methodologies. The National Biofilms Innovation Centre was launched in 2017 to address the impact of biofilms on global challenges from antimicrobial resistance and food safety to water security by bringing together UK research and businesses to drive the translation of biofilm research into innovative solutions. Since its creation, NBIC has built a national partnership with 63 UK research institutions and more than 250 companies and an international partnership with biofilms centres across the world including the Centre for Biofilm Engineering (CBE) in the United States (Montana) and the Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE)